The Power of Naming Spiritual Gifts In One Another
Last week we began our process by identifying the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. This included describing how the Holy Spirit feels—the different ways we sense the presence of the Spirit, and sharing stories of our experiences of the Holy Spirit (Read more here).I invited congregants to pair off for one-to-one relational discernment. Each person in the pair was asked to share a story about a time they responded to feeling the energy of the Holy Spirit within them. Together in conversation with their partner, they explored these stories to see if they could identify a spiritual gift within their response to the Spirit.Afterwards we gathered as a group to share our reflections. Only a couple hands tentatively raised in the air—a far more reserved response than our earlier high energy conversation about how the Holy Spirit feels. The few folx who spoke did so with uncertainty of whether what they were sharing would even be considered a spiritual gift.There is clarity around the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit within our lives—Spirit as the actor. However, understanding our role within relationship to the Holy Spirit was vague—self as receiver, not actor. I’m curious if this might point to larger questions about how we understand and experience ourselves and our relationship to God.
- Do we understand, and also experience, ourselves as active participants in relationship to God? Or do we understand and experience ourselves as inactive recipients within a one-sided relationship with God?
- Theologically, do we understand and experience God as working with and among us? Or doing things for and to us?
During our group share out, we noticed that even our ability to perceive the Holy Spirit’s movement in the world is not something we necessarily understand or accept as a spiritual gift. Let alone a spiritual gift in which we have an active role to play. It seemed the more common understanding was of the Holy Spirit happening to us, while we are a passive receiver. I wonder if with more time, further reflection, and loving agitation, whether there might have been further insight into the difference between our perceived and actual role in relationship to the Spirit.Relationship is the connection between two or more beings. While rarely raised within its scriptural context of witnessing to sin within the church—Matthew 20:20 remains meaningful for spiritually understanding connection:
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
In this passage, our “gathering” is the action. Jesus explains that when we act together in God’s name, the Holy Spirit is present among us. There are many other examples in the scriptures that relate this same dynamic: God’s active presence in our lives and world requires us to act faithfully creating a mutually engaged relationship. Think about the healing and miracle stories in the Gospel: in faith a person comes to Jesus directly or on behalf of someone for whom they care deeply, they beg Jesus, they reach out just to touch the hem of Christ’s garment, and they tell others to do whatever Jesus commands. And after Jesus responds by healing or another miracle, the people continue to take faithful action by standing up from death; using their bodies, minds, and spirit in ways that were previously limited; and communing over bread, fish, and celebratory wine. The next set of actions are thanksgiving and witness—living a life of gratitude and sharing with others the gifts you have received.In the scriptures we see a cyclical pattern of: faithful action, God’s response, gratitude and witness. As we learn to live in flow with the Holy Spirit, we might experience what seems like a change in the pattern. Our active relationship to God transforms from an iterative step-by-step procedure into an integrated Way of being—our ability to abide with the Holy Spirit. For we already know, “the Spirit abides with [us], and Spirit will be in and among [us] (John 14:17).” Our response is faithful action, gratitude, and witness. Our choice is whether to abide with the Spirit.
Why Your Spiritual Gifts Matter
Traditional approaches to identifying spiritual gifts often begin with participants completing self-administered written inventories in which individuals respond to various prompts. These prompts focus on different practical ministry experiences or tasks, which are exemplary of various spiritual gifts identified within the Bible. Once the inventory is completed, you tally your responses according to a provided rubric, which identifies your top spiritual gifts. This inventory-based approach can function to restrict our understanding of spiritual gifts to limited categories. These categories are derived from scriptures which detailed the spiritual gifts that were particularly valuable at the time and context of Biblical experience (i.e.: for the context and mission of the Jesus’ disciples). Of course, these particular spiritual gifts remain valuable today, and also, nowhere in the Bible is there an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts and talents.Those who write about Biblical spiritual gifts are not in agreement as to how many there are, and identify anywhere from 7-28 gifts. When we consider the vast diversity of God’s creation, how could we possibly assume God limited the whole of humanity to a set number of spiritual gifts? And only two digits worth?This is not to say that the Bible is wrong. Rather, it is to say that the Bible is one reference point. God is still actively speaking, and we know from the Bible, that when God speaks, it often involves calling someone to do things for which they feel unskilled, unprepared, and incapable of doing. This is because God prepares us with the spiritual gifts we need, when we need them, and for the contexts of our ministries. Spiritual gifts are part of our ongoing spiritual formation within a lifelong relationship to our Creator.Identifying spiritual gifts with a still speaking God requires an emphasis on exploratory discernment. It encourages us to pay attention to how we experience the Holy Spirit within ourselves and others. And then together within relationship, we can discern the gifts of the Spirit as that which connects us to the heart of God. As one congregant shared during our group discussion this past week, “In my experience, the traditional Christian approach to spiritual gifts was always tied to work in the church—specific jobs or tasks that needed to get done. This is the first time I’ve experienced spiritual gifts being tied to me and who I am.”The difference is whether we understand ourselves and one another as task completers within a predefined church system, or if we understand our divinity—who and whose we are, as active contributors within an ongoing, creative relationship with God.
Naming and Affirmation
Last Sunday everyone wrote their name on a brightly colored paper that was cut in the shape of a flame to represent the fire of the Spirit. Then everyone got up and circulated the room for 20 minutes writing down the spiritual gifts they saw in one another on each named paper. It was a brief exercise by way of introduction to the process of naming and affirming spiritual gifts in each other.While the congregation struggled the previous week to self-identify spiritual gifts, naming gifts in one another was easier, even enjoyable. This was true even when one-third of the room identified as newer to the congregation, with less time for others to experience their spiritual gifts. Of course, sometimes it is easier to see others more clearly given our external lens. Seeing ourselves clearly is complicated because we can’t really get any distance from ourself or perspective. Everything is just all mushed up together inside, complexifying our understanding of self. Proximity matters, and one part of proximity is how close we are to our internal critic. Often we struggle to see the best in ourselves, to quiet the critical voice in our mind, to emphasize our sacredness, and not dwell on our mistakes. We also know from scripture that there is power in naming. Whether it was God speaking and naming the world into being in Genesis or an angel telling Joseph to name the son that Mary would bear “Jesus," naming is way of speaking something into being, imbuing it with power, and offering a blessing.After everyone was done writing spiritual gifts on each others paper flames, I asked the group to read to themselves what others wrote about them. Then I invited them to share with the group how it felt to read what others said about them:
- Others see things I never would have associated with myself—I was pleasantly surprised.
- It was very affirming.
- It was humbling and affirming
- I’d like to be that person [that others wrote about on my paper]. It feels overwhelming to think I’m that good.
- There are things people wrote about me that I don’t see in myself, but they are things that I want and hope to be true!
- A couple of us were talking about raising pre-teen girls, and this experience reminds us of how much children need positive reinforcement of their abilities.
- This is a snapshot after many years of involvement in the church. I’ve noticed how I’ve changed in recent years as I’ve gotten older. I’m more spiritual and reflective.
- I feel gratitude
- I feel seen
It is a prophetic act to truly see someone; to speak truth to them by naming their gifts and affirming that which is sacred in them. It is a particularly necessary prophetic act within a society that revels in tearing one another down, finding ways to discredit and deny one another’s inherent worth, and yearns to set limitations and boundaries on how God might work with and through God’s own beloved creation. We have just to reflect on the vitriol of the primary elections to witness this kind of limiting evil.Next, I invited everyone to find a partner, this time with someone they knew well, but to whom they were not related. I asked everyone to identify and share with their partner something on their flame paper that was a surprise, focusing on something that didn’t resonate with them, or that they didn’t understand. The partner’s job was to respond, to hold up a mirror, to help the other person understand what others see in them, that they do not see or understand clearly in themselves. We again gathered in a group to share what we learned from these one-to-one conversations:
- It is so wonderful when others don’t participate with our internal critic!
- These affirmations were timely, something we needed to hear today.
- I am curious about what others see in us from other contexts. Church is just one context and we may not show all of ourselves here. We are so much more!
- It feels vulnerable to be seen so well. It reminds me how important it is to see others well, and also to be careful with helping others be seen because it can be a vulnerable experience.
- I realize the traditional way of looking at spiritual gifts made it easier for me to hide, to not be present physically, mentally, or spiritually. This makes me be more present—I can’t hide.
- This broadened my opportunity for understanding spiritual gifts.
- It was emotional and hard to talk about me. I talk about stories from my life all the time, but not me. I never talk about me.
- I realize that the intention of a person’s language matters. I have to discern the strength of the word [people use to name my spiritual gifts], instead of reacting out of my historical frustrations with certain words.
- I’ve really been feeling my transition into retirement and [this experience] showed me that others are seeing the transition in me too!
This is just the beginning of exploring our spiritual gifts. My hope is that the congregation learns the discerning practice of identifying and naming spiritual gifts in others, and that this practice becomes a culture within the congregation and its ministry. Can you imagine a church whose way of being in the world is to affirm and meaningfully engage in ministry the spiritual gifts in others? Instead of reminding people explicitly or implicitly what they are lacking in their lives, in their faith, and in their communities. The Church does not exist to fix people. The Church exists to cultivate divine connection—we were already made whole, in the image of God, with spiritual gifts that are constantly unfolding.
Resources for Your Faith Journey
Scripture as Prayer:
We opened our time together on Sunday with this prayer "In Praise of the Spirit" from Sirach 1:9-10.*9 It is God who created the Spirit;God saw the Spirit and took the Spirit’s measure;God poured the Spirit out upon all of God’s works,10 upon all the living according to their gift;God lavished the Spirit upon those who love God.Love of God is glorious Spirit; to those to whom God appears, God apportions the Spirit that they may see God. Amen.Sirach is a book of six poems about the search for wisdom. In Gnostic tradition, wisdom (Sophia) is simultaneously equivalent to the human soul, an emanation of God, the feminine pairing of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. According to the teachings of Jesus, Wisdom is the Spirit of Truth or Holy Spirit that abides within and among us.The Holy Spirit brings together into loving relationship creation/humanity, God, and Christ. When we abide in the Holy Spirit and seek the Spirit within relationship to one another, we experience the love and heart of God—we are in discernment, knowing Truth through the Holy Spirit.*In the scripture above, I’ve replaced the original word “Wisdom” with the word “Spirit,” to translate meaningfully within our contemporary Christian context.Gnosticism originated with early Christian and Jewish sects in the first century CE. Gnostics prioritized personal spiritual experience and knowing, over orthodoxy or ecclesiastical authority.The book of Sirach (Eccclesiasticus) was written in Hebrew by scribe Ben Sira in Palestine (200 -175 BCE). This text is included in the Christian Orthodox and Catholic Bible, but for the Protestant tradition it is considered apocryphal—Biblically related, but not accepted in the scriptural canon.
Spiritual Practice:
By next Sunday, share with one person how you experience their spiritual gifts, and thank them for sharing their gifts. You can read more in the "spiritual practice" section of last week's post.As you engage this practice, I invite you to reflect on the ways in which we make assumptions and put limits on other people. Who are we to limit how God can work with and through another person? Can you even imagine the amazing things the Spirit could do, if we stopped making ourselves and others small?As you reflect on what liberation in the Spirit might look like—as opposed to limitation, remember our current context: March is Womxn's history month, last Sunday was International Womxn's Day, and the outcome and accompanying analysis of last week's Super Tuesday primary election included widespread misogyny—measured in votes and commentary. Imagine what might be possible for all of us, if we truly believed we were God's beloved children, each and every one of us.
This post is part of a Lenten series, in which Juniper Formation founder and Minister of Prophetic Formation Rev. Dr. Jenny Whitcher is blogging alongside the facilitation of a relational discernment process with Park Hill United Church of Christ UCC. This series is offered with support and permission of Park Hill UCC, in our shared hope of providing 1) ongoing reflection and engagement with the congregation, and inclusion for those unable to physically be present for all parts of our journey; and 2) a unique opportunity for a wider audience to learn more in depth about the ministry and approach of Juniper Formation. You can read more about the purpose and process leading up to this Lenten series here. For all posts in this series visit Juniper Formation’s Inspirations blog, or subscribe to Juniper Formation’s blog posts and newsletter.
